Spain Unloads 300 Illegal Workers Smuggling Criminal Network Majority From Nepal

JAKARTA - The Spanish police dismantled a criminal network linked to the smuggling of 300 workers into the country, mostly from Nepal.

The workers are placed illegally on agricultural land in central and eastern Spain.

Reported by ABC News, Friday, December 5, police arrested 11 people and are investigating two other people.

A total of 322 people, mostly from Nepal, were among the victims. Of these, 294 people do not have valid documents to live and work in Spain.

In a statement, the police said most of those smuggled in on tourist visas included for other countries within the European Union's Schegen region, consisting of 25 of the 27 EU member states, plus Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

Upon arrival in Spain, the workers were recruited and transferred to various regions of the country, where their labor rights were rejected, the police said.

In a video released by Spanish police, a number of people sit side by side on a bed lined up in a gloomy and dimly lit room.

Police said the criminal network regulates the accommodation of victims in Albacete, southeastern Spain. They were locked into bad ventilated rooms and limited access to the bathroom was "a completely dignified and inhumane living condition," police said.

From that location, they are thought to be transported every day to agriculture. Travel is carried out by van, some of which do not meet safety standards.

Police suspect that in many cases, the victims employed by the criminal network did not receive salaries for months of work, apart from being only given very basic food.

According to the World Bank, more than 20% of Nepal's 30 million population live in poverty.